Madhya Pradesh High Court on Wednesday ruled for continuation of its stay on raising reservation for the Other Backward Classes from 14 per cent to 27 per cent in government jobs and educational institutions. The next hearing will be on November 2.
During the hearing on Wednesday, the petitioners’ counsel Aditya Sanghi sought permission from the High Court for rejoinder with reference to Government reply. Advocate General Purshendra Kaurav appealed the court for an early hearing and court fixed the next date for it.
The then Congress government, headed by Kamal Nath, had decided to enhance the reservation percentage for OBCs in March 2019. Twenty six petitions were filed against the government ordinance. The petitioners challenging Nath government decision, had made plea in the court that as per the Supreme Court’s judgment in Indira Sawhney vs Union of India, reservation in government jobs and educational institutions can’t exceed 50% of the seats.
As per petitioners, the government has made a plea that there is 51 per cent OBC population in the state. However, if the government’s plea is taken into account, OBCs, STs and SCs in the state account for about 87 per cent of the total population. Then, the government can justify its reservation up to 87 per cent but will this be justice to people from other segments of society? They had said.
